Friday, 18 April 2014

Gertie's Vintage Slip - Reveal

Ooo, La Laa! I am about to show you my underwear!! Prepare yourself! But firstly I'd like to share some of the changes I made to the pattern, which is a vintage style slip/petticoat, Gertie's Butterick 6031.

Due to some weight gain over the winter I decided not to take in the fitted waist so instead just cut straight upwards from the hip line to the top. I also added 5" to the hem, as I held the pattern pieces up against me and thought it would be a bit too short for me as it was.
I used a two-way stretch fabric that I bought at the Creative Stitch Show in Glasgow in March. You can tell this fabric is meant for slips and nightwear just by the slinky feel of it. I think this would have been hard to buy online. All the stretch lace, elastic and lingerie fastenings I had to buy online, as I couldn't find anything at the show for this garment.
At the moment Gertie is running a Sew-Along for this garment on her blog, but it hasn't been all that I thought it would be. It's not a very interactive sew-along. I asked a question on her first post almost three weeks ago now, and never got a reply. I asked a question on her fourth post, yesterday, and as yet haven't heard anything, despite her end of post comment saying "Let me know if you have any questions." ...of course everyone is busy with life I guess.
So I have decided to just wing it and go it alone.

I did follow her FBA diagrams today and found them helpful. The pattern envelope has a little calculation to do: full-bust - high-bust = X, and then this X number tells you which cup size pattern piece to use. I had to make mine bigger than the largest pattern piece, but it wasn't clear how much bigger. So I first made a 2" FBA pattern piece which was way too Madonna/Vogue/pointy, then I made another one with only a 1.5" FBA and this one seems to suit me better.

There is a lovely feature to this pattern, cut away lace sections. You pin the stretch lace onto the fabric with the edge of the lace along the edge of the fabric, and then you sew along the other edge of the lace, the edge that is 1.5" away from the fabric edge. Once it is sewn you cut away that strip of fabric that was under the lace, so that now you see some gorgeous flesh behind the lace!

The lace under my bust. You can also seethe bust dart with top edge stitching.

Okay, so here we go, hope you're prepared...

of course I have decided to go headless, as you just don't know what people may do with photos on the interwebs! All those lovely ladies who have formed the Curvy Collective have suddenly made me feel a lot better about my curves, and (today) I am feeling brave and proud to share this make.

Here is a back view of my slip. I know many ladies don't show the back view of their makes, for all sorts of reasons, but it really is helpful to see the back of handmade items, "Posterior for Posterity!"

I will be wearing this as a slip/petticoat and so I fitted it whilst wearing my bra, and I will always wear it with a bra. I did use the recommended narrow width of lace for the straps, it's just hard to see here because my bra straps are wider than the black lace - sorry about that.

So one last photo, standing normally. The added 5" hem falls just at the top of my knees, but my Mister took this next photo looking downwards so the slip looks a bit longer than it is.

Hope this helps others to feel less self-conscious and more proud of the curves!

You look gorgeous!! It's disappointing to hear that Gertie hasn't had time to answer questions, but it seems you figured it out well enough. I REALLY love the lace cut-outs you did. I know it's a slip and meant to be under things, but I think that looks great enough to wear as a summer dress! Great, great job! I love it!

Thank you so much Kristin! Thanks for your belief in my garment making skills! I thought her FBA was fairly helpful, so it wasn't a complete waste.Not sure I'll wear it as a dress, well, maybe just around the house! :-)

Beautiful, Nessa!! This looks so lovely on you! I like the idea of lengthening the slip. I think I like it better that way. When I get around to making another, I will certainly do that. Not sure I will be sharing a photo of myself modeling it though!

Ooh, very slinky! It looks great :o) I think I had the same experience with Gertie's blog a couple of years ago - I suppose everyone has good intentions, but perhaps it's not such a good idea to set people up to expect something that will never happen.

This is lovely and you look really great in it, I'm very glad you decided to share the pictures, it's good inspiration. This year I have promised myself I'll make some kind of slip though if I can make a half slip first that would be a good start. I like the cutaway lace section too.

You look gorgeous! That slip is just beautiful and so flattering on you. The cutaway lace detail is such a lovely feature. It's almost a shame that it'll be hidden underneath other things - but I'll bet you'll secretly feel utterly glamorous every time you wear it!